How to Build a Drip Campaign That Actually Works

Start from the outcome, not the emails

Before writing a single subject line, define the one action you want the recipient to take by the end of the sequence — connect their first integration, invite a teammate, send their first campaign. Every email in the drip should either move them toward that action or remove a reason they haven’t taken it yet.

If you can't explain in one sentence what a given email in the sequence is trying to accomplish, cut it.

Trigger on behavior, not just time

The weakest drips fire purely on a timer: day 0, day 2, day 5, regardless of what the person actually did. A much stronger pattern branches on behavior at each step. Did they complete the target action already? Stop the sequence — congratulating someone on a step they've already finished reads as not paying attention.

• Trigger: signup event. Step 1 fires immediately with the single next action to take.
• Branch: did they complete step 1 within 48 hours? If yes, move to a "go deeper" track. If no, send a lighter-touch reminder, not a repeat of the same email.
• Branch: did they open the last two emails? If not, either change the subject line strategy or pause the sequence — repeated sends to someone who isn’t opening is a deliverability cost with no upside.
• Exit condition: as soon as the target action is completed, remove them from the sequence automatically.

Timing and cadence

A reasonable default for product onboarding is: immediate, then +2 days, then +5 days, then +10 days, tapering off. Front-load the value — the highest-intent moment is right after signup, and it decays fast. If someone hasn’t engaged by email three, a fourth identical nudge rarely changes that; consider switching channels or simply stopping.

Building it with conditional logic

MailCraft automations cover the building blocks: start a sequence when a contact is created, joins a list or has a property change — or enroll them from your app through the API when they do something that matters. Chain emails with waits, update a property or move the contact between lists as they progress, and remove people from a sequence once they have done what it was nudging them towards. Branching on behavior inside a single automation isn’t available yet, so model those paths today as separate automations triggered by the property or list your app updates.

Measure the sequence, not just the emails

Look at completion rate for the sequence's target action, not open rate for each individual email. A drip with mediocre open rates but a 35% completion rate for "connect your first integration" is working. A drip with great opens and no movement on the underlying goal is a newsletter wearing a drip campaign's clothes.